We live in an amazing and wonderful world. Think about the richness, diversity, and abundance of life: a seed grows to produce a harvest, the colours on flowers or birds, sunrise, sunset, mountains, and lakes. People are incredible. The wonder of a newborn baby, the tiny fingers and so much more; look up at the immensity of the universe. Amazing balance How we can live here on our earth is almost too much to understand. The balance for life as we know it is incredible and we are learning that it can be changed. The earth receives approximately one billionth of the energy that the sun pours into space - just right for our life systems. From the sun, the earth is only a tiny speck in space. Sunlight goes everywhere. Some of the energy that comes to Earth is reflected into space by clouds and ice, some is absorbed by oceans and land - just right for our life systems. Oceans and forests and plants breathe huge amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide all the time - just right for our life syst

Not long ago, shopping second hand carried the stigma that you weren’t well-off enough to buy new. But that image is fast-changing.   In a recent survey, thrift shoppers reported that their money-saving motivations were less of a concern than their concern for a changing climate. Shoppers are voting with their dollars for a healthier planet, and it’s not just small potatoes anymore. In 2018 the 2 nd hand economy weighed in at $27.3 billion in Canada.* Our local MCC Thrift store is one of the finest and largest around. To learn more about the great work the Altona MCC is doing in our community, I sat down with Dave Rempel, store manager and here’s what I learned.   What sells well?   Clothing and shoes (women’s clothing is the top seller) Major and small appliances Housewares – pots, pans, silverware, dishes Furniture and collectibles Christmas trees, lights and decorations What is not sellable? Broken or food stained containers or cutting boards Chipped glassware Incomplete

In March of 1972, Linie Friesen, Selma Loewen, Susan Giesbrecht and Sara Stoesz opened the first MCC Thrift Shop in Altona, Manitoba with an expectation the project might last “three to six months.” The shop began to thrive and produced about $1,000 for MCC during the first six months of operation. Over forty years later, their vision has grown a North American network of over 100 shops, generating millions of dollars every year for the programs of Mennonite Central Committee. Shopping at your local MCC Shop is an affordable and environmentally friendly way to support a great cause so I sat down with Dave Rempel, the current manager of the Altona thrift store recently to see how ACAN’s column could help to support their work. I thought our conversation was going to center around donations and sales. I wanted to know how to educate the public about what items they would like to receive more of or what items they wished folks didn’t drop off at all and so on, and I did learn a lot about